Tuesday, 14 August 2012

One of our community partners at work is the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and they recently hosted a film & supper evening.

Supper consisted of homegrown produce from Stirley Farm:

** Nettle Pesto ** crackers ** sweet beetroot & garlic 'pickle' **

followed by

** potato & cheese pie **

(with meaty option for the meatysaurus')

The nettle pesto was very interesting - for those adventurous sorts, here is a copy of the recipe, with thanks to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust / Chris Bax from Taste the Wild:

Really
Wild Pesto

40g
Hazel nuts

60g
cheese (Parmesan or a more local cheese, if you like)

10
Wild Garlic leaves chopped

2
large (gloved!) handfuls of nettles, blanched and then patted dry

10g
sea salt flakes

Oil
(olive oil or Yorkshire Rapeseed oil, if you want to make local pesto!)

For a
very smooth pesto put all the ingredients apart from the oil into a food
processor and blend briefly. Now with the motor running add enough oil to make
a paste consistency. Put into jars and store in the fridge for up to 10 days.

For a
more course textured pesto, use a pestle and mortar. Start by pounding the
hazel nuts, then add the leaves, then the cheese and lastly add the oil to get
a good sauce consistency.

Top tip - apparently the nettles need to be very young ... let me know if you try it :)